Darwell Wood


Darwell Wood is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Battle in East Sussex.

Species

Most of the wood is made-up of coppices of hornbeam with oak standards.
Under the dense tree canopy, mosses mainly grow with a few patches of bluebells,also blackberry and wood sorrel can be found. On the higher grounds, the woodland becomes more open, with silver birch and hazel and some
sweet chestnut coppice areas.
The ground flora of the woodland has wood sage, bracken and sanicle.
On the west of the site, calcareous soils help support an ash growth underplanted by mosses, ramsons, bee and pyramidal orchids and.
The streams which pass through the site have eroded deeply into the rock layer to produce steep sided valleys. These valleys have alder, with local abundances of grey willow above a ground flora of pendulous sedge, water mint, opposite-leaved golden saxifrage and ragged robin.